LTT Movie Club!

[Radium_Angel]

Looking for a supernatural revenge flick?

I strongly suggest "Avenged"

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2378453/

(yeah it's low budget in some areas, but the makeup fx are top notch)

[Guest]

1 hour ago, Radium_Angel said:

Looking for a supernatural revenge flick?

I strongly suggest "Avenged"

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2378453/

(yeah it's low budget in some areas, but the makeup fx are top notch)

That plot description lol. 

 

I'll check it out. 

[Radium_Angel]

1 hour ago, fpo said:

That plot description lol. 

 

I'll check it out. 

Yeah not the best, but a solid solid film. Easily one of my favs of this year

[Guest]

I saw the 1930 edition of All Quiet on the Western Front.

 

Long movie.
Feels a bit "Americanized" based on how they talk.

Still has some intense combat sequences with the close combat.

 

Something this movie had that 2022 didn't was SPOILER

Spoiler

The rats coming into the base and the troops fighting the rats.
I'm confident in reading that the rats attacked the soldiers to eat them... I could have swore I read about that...

 

I think they get the passage of time pretty well. It's not as "neat" as a modern "refined" story arc, but it goes along.

There's also a lot of "tell" then sometimes they show. so to speak.

 

Solid 6 or 7 out of 10.

[Crunchy Dragon]

On 4/10/2023 at 11:14 PM, Crunchy Dragon said:

Watched The Meg

 

It was more okay than I expected.

There's a second one coming out this year

 

 

[Radium_Angel]

12 hours ago, Crunchy Dragon said:

There's a second one coming out this year

Did the first one warrant a sequel?

[Crunchy Dragon]

Just now, Radium_Angel said:

Did the first one warrant a sequel?

Not particularly. There was some setup, but it's not much more than what you already see in the trailer for the sequel(people discover a lost world underwater that contains prehistoric creatures), but it's based on a series of books that currently has 7 or 8 released.

 

I was surprised with how not bad the first one was, and it kind of seems like they're not trying to take it as seriously as Jurassic Park, so I honestly have decent expectations.

[Radium_Angel]

1 hour ago, Crunchy Dragon said:

and it kind of seems like they're not trying to take it as seriously as Jurassic Park

Well it's got Jason Statham in it, and any movie with him in it (and I say this as a fan of his work) isn't to be taken seriously anyway, so that's good.

[GamerDude]

I'm actually looking forward to Meg2, only because I do enjoy some mindless violent movies from time to time, besides, I did enjoy the first one. It was entertaining enough, and it did make enough that a sequel's been made for it.

 

I was re-watching Saving Private Ryan, I'd gotten the 4K Bluray disc a few months back, and the visceral experience like when I'd first watched it came back to me. The way the movie was shot puts you, like in the middle of the action, is just cinematic mastery at work.  Not ashame to admit it, but I did tear up in a few scene, like when the Medic Wade died, and when Capt Miller died, got frustrated with Upham at his failure to help Mellish, but I do understand that he was there to exemplify how an everyman/average joe, would react in such a circumstance, fear overwhelming one's desire to help.

 

After that rather gut wrenching experience that is Saving Private Ryan, I'd wondered IF Spielberg had not done the movie back in 1998, a totally different 'era' vis-a-vis now, and had wanted to do the movie now, would he have had to tone down on everything because of present sensitivities to just about everything. Imagine a Saving Private Ryan without the visceral intro at Normandy Beach, DEI characters thrown in just 'because'.....it's exactly this almost true-to-life experiences and gore (after all, war is hell as they say) that made Saving Private Ryan such a visceral movie experience, as oppose to simply watching a war movie.

[Crunchy Dragon]

4 hours ago, GamerDude said:

I'd wondered IF Spielberg had not done the movie back in 1998, a totally different 'era' vis-a-vis now, and had wanted to do the movie now, would he have had to tone down on everything because of present sensitivities to just about everything.

I think the success of the John Wick franchise would probably say no.

 

I've heard Sisu is pretty good as well.

[Radium_Angel]

5 minutes ago, Crunchy Dragon said:

John Wick

John Wick ain't got nothin' on the over the top gore and violence that the Koreans put out (go see Project Wolf Hunting for example)

Yeah JW is probably better made with a better plot, but if gore if your thing, then Korean action/horror is the place to be.

 

Off topic:

Re-watching the four Alien films. (with Alien 3 the Assembly Cut being the best version of that film)

It cycle is very Buddhist: Birth, Life, Death, Resurrection

I flip flop on whether Alien Resurrection is any good. Tonally it's all over the map and that's not good for a "horror" film (I absolutely detest comedy mixed in with my horror) but the casting choices were great for the most part (how the characters were portrayed was not the fault of the actors, but laid squarely at the feet of the writers)

 

[Crunchy Dragon]

49 minutes ago, Radium_Angel said:

John Wick ain't got nothin' on the over the top gore and violence that the Koreans put out (go see Project Wolf Hunting for example)

Yeah JW is probably better made with a better plot, but if gore if your thing, then Korean action/horror is the place to be.

For sure. My main point was that John Wick and Sisu are more appealing to the Western audience, so Saving Private Ryan could likely have been made today with no changes.

50 minutes ago, Radium_Angel said:

Re-watching the four Alien films. (with Alien 3 the Assembly Cut being the best version of that film)

It cycle is very Buddhist: Birth, Life, Death, Resurrection

I flip flop on whether Alien Resurrection is any good. Tonally it's all over the map and that's not good for a "horror" film (I absolutely detest comedy mixed in with my horror) but the casting choices were great for the most part (how the characters were portrayed was not the fault of the actors, but laid squarely at the feet of the writers)

I still need to see those. Not been able to cough up the cash to rent any of them yet, but the first one is on my list of movies to see this year.

[Radium_Angel]

24 minutes ago, Crunchy Dragon said:

I still need to see those

You've not seen ANY of the Alien films????

 

[Guest]

2 hours ago, Radium_Angel said:

John Wick ain't got nothin' on the over the top gore and violence that the Koreans put out

Are you daft? 

It's so cartoony... Next you're going to tell me anime is brutal...

You probably liked rogue one cuz people died which makes it edgy...

2 hours ago, Radium_Angel said:

 

Off topic:

Re-watching the four Alien films. (with Alien 3 the Assembly Cut being the best version of that film)

It cycle is very Buddhist: Birth, Life, Death, Resurrection

I flip flop on whether Alien Resurrection is any good. Tonally it's all over the map and that's not good for a "horror" film (I absolutely detest comedy mixed in with my horror) but the casting choices were great for the most part (how the characters were portrayed was not the fault of the actors, but laid squarely at the feet of the writers)

 

Is that the one that came out in the mod 2000s? 

That's .... Idk I think you have to be okay with mid 2000s style edge to like it. 

Alien 3 is... Alright if you just want to see more alien. If that's the one about the prison. 

1 hour ago, Crunchy Dragon said:

.

I still need to see those. 

 

Bruv... Lemme tell you, your in for some of the BEST science fiction movies made period. 

Full stop, you best make sure it's the best viewing experience of your damn pitiful short life. 

 

Alien, & aliens are gods to gods. 

[Guest]

I don't want to jump into politics but sigorney weaver is the most badass female actress. I don't understand why her character doesn't receive the praise it deserves from the female rights communities. 

[Radium_Angel]

13 minutes ago, fpo said:

It's so cartoony

Hence my phrase "over the top"

13 minutes ago, fpo said:

You probably liked rogue one

Never saw it. Not a SW fan.

13 minutes ago, fpo said:

I don't understand why her character doesn't receive the praise it deserves from the female rights communities. 

Possibly because her character came out at a time when being a female lead wasn't a big deal? Or possibly because she's not superhuman levels of perfect in everything she does?

Shrug, beats me, crusades are funny and fickle things

[GamerDude]

3 hours ago, Crunchy Dragon said:

I think the success of the John Wick franchise would probably say no.

 

I've heard Sisu is pretty good as well.

Maybe, but most likely, Capt Miller would be race swapped (not sure if there were any blacks at Omaha, but as Netflix's Queen Cleopatra has shown, facts and historical accuracy can be ignored in favor of DEI), with perhaps one or two more blacks included. Not that I have anything against that.....IF it were historically accurate that there were blacks there, and that one was a captain in charge of a company.

 

Honestly, I look at the crap coming out from Disney (they've ruined their very own IPs like Little Mermaid, Peter Pan (and Wendy), and looks to be on course to ruin others at the rate they're going) and Netflix (gave up on Netflix, left a few more days of subscription, never subscribed to Disney tho I did have a chance at a lower rate), I've given up on seeing any quality series and movies from them. At least I still have Amazon (only due to my being a Prime member), with Citadel looking to be pretty decent, and I did enjoy Carnival Row and The Consultant.

[Radium_Angel]

Since I have hijacked the thread to focus on the xenomorphs, there is this tidbit of news:

 

https://www.gamereactor.eu/news/1263363/It+seems+like+FXs+Alien+TV+series+has+its+lead+star/

 

Choice quote:

"John Landgraf, has previously said that this series is set before Ripley's time. What we do know about this show is that it is actually set on Earth, about 70 years in the future."

 

Way to screw up with the timeline...

Unless they dump the xenos and simply make this (yet another) an interpersonal drama set in the same universe.

I do not know, just venting. Xenos should not be set on earth, they are an end-stage bioweapon used to deny territory to the other side. 

[Crunchy Dragon]

6 hours ago, GamerDude said:

Maybe, but most likely, Capt Miller would be race swapped (not sure if there were any blacks at Omaha, but as Netflix's Queen Cleopatra has shown, facts and historical accuracy can be ignored in favor of DEI), with perhaps one or two more blacks included. Not that I have anything against that.....IF it were historically accurate that there were blacks there, and that one was a captain in charge of a company.

That's a fair point. Have you seen Devotion? It reminded me a lot of Remember The Titans with how it handled racism.

Both of those are very good movies, by the way.

 

6 hours ago, GamerDude said:

Honestly, I look at the crap coming out from Disney (they've ruined their very own IPs like Little Mermaid, Peter Pan (and Wendy), and looks to be on course to ruin others at the rate they're going) and Netflix (gave up on Netflix, left a few more days of subscription, never subscribed to Disney tho I did have a chance at a lower rate), I've given up on seeing any quality series and movies from them. At least I still have Amazon (only due to my being a Prime member), with Citadel looking to be pretty decent, and I did enjoy Carnival Row and The Consultant.

Without factoring DEI and all of that stuff, I've noticed that the overall quality of content Disney has produced has gotten worse with time. I'm a big fan of practical effects and will typically favor "real" movies over CGI, and one of the things I liked about the early Marvel movies(when Marvel was owned by Paramount) was that they used more practical effects. These days, a lot of it is just a group of people standing around on an empty soundstage with blue or greenscreens everywhere.

 

It really hit me while thinking about Star Wars, of all things. The original Star Wars trilogy were made in basically the same manner as Jurassic Park or other movies from the time: use practical effects as much as possible, and use CG as minimally as possible to fill in gaps when necessary. The Phantom Menace was made using a lot of practical effects as well, but Attack of The Clones and Revenge of The Sith were not.

 

Similarly, Attack of The Clones and Revenge of The Sith look worse(at least, to me) because they're just digitally constructed.

[GamerDude]

3 hours ago, Crunchy Dragon said:

That's a fair point. Have you seen Devotion? It reminded me a lot of Remember The Titans with how it handled racism.

Both of those are very good movies, by the way.

 

Without factoring DEI and all of that stuff, I've noticed that the overall quality of content Disney has produced has gotten worse with time. I'm a big fan of practical effects and will typically favor "real" movies over CGI, and one of the things I liked about the early Marvel movies(when Marvel was owned by Paramount) was that they used more practical effects. These days, a lot of it is just a group of people standing around on an empty soundstage with blue or greenscreens everywhere.

 

It really hit me while thinking about Star Wars, of all things. The original Star Wars trilogy were made in basically the same manner as Jurassic Park or other movies from the time: use practical effects as much as possible, and use CG as minimally as possible to fill in gaps when necessary. The Phantom Menace was made using a lot of practical effects as well, but Attack of The Clones and Revenge of The Sith were not.

 

Similarly, Attack of The Clones and Revenge of The Sith look worse(at least, to me) because they're just digitally constructed.

Oh yeah, I'd watched Devotion and it was pretty good, also enjoyed The Tuskegee Airmen, excellent movie based on historical fact. Hollywood is just too woke for me now, I sighed when I'd read about 'Queen Cleopatra', much like how BBC has also pivoted to this woke agenda. Race swapping willy nilly just for the sake of DEI, is just not needed, nor should it be encouraged as it takes away the 'feel' and authenticity of the movie/series like race swapped Queen Charlotte, or a race and gender swapped character in Viking. That's just wrong, mind you, I ain't a racist (in fact, I ain't white) and I'm all in for including other races when the historical facts are simply set aside just to promote a certain narrative, that's just wrong, no 'ifs' or 'buts' about it.

 

As for practical effects, one good example which shows how old skool practical effects trumps CGI is 'The Thing" 1982 vs 'The Thing' 2011, the latter wasn't a remake, it was a prequel to the 'original' 1982 version. The practical effects done by Rob Bottin looks so much better, and scarier I might add, than the CGI 'Thing' in the 2011 version. Absolutely no comparison between the two, but I must also say that I did not find the 2011 version to be terrible either, just that the 1982 version set the bar kinda high...

[Radium_Angel]

10 hours ago, GamerDude said:

As for practical effects, one good example which shows how old skool practical effects trumps CGI is 'The Thing" 1982 vs 'The Thing' 2011, the latter wasn't a remake, it was a prequel to the 'original' 1982 version. The practical effects done by Rob Bottin looks so much better, and scarier I might add, than the CGI 'Thing' in the 2011 version. Absolutely no comparison between the two, but I must also say that I did not find the 2011 version to be terrible either, just that the 1982 version set the bar kinda high...

Practical FX for the win, I agree....when done right (as Bottin did)

The main issues with the prequel (well..one of many)

(1) The actors were wrong for the role. A fault of the director (or whomever makes the casting choices)

(2) Half-assed SFX. Supposedly a lot of the FX were practical, but the producers didn't like how they screened, so dumped them in favour of CGI, which had to be rushed.

(3) No tension or atmosphere

 

The one thing (err...) I did like, was the creature couldn't replicate filings, that was well thought out.

[AudiTTFan]

I finally watched the greatest movie of all time, Tommy Wiseau's cinematic masterpiece The Room

[Tan3l6]

17 minutes ago, AudiTTFan said:

I finally watched the greatest movie of all time, Tommy Wiseau's cinematic masterpiece The Room

"Anyway, how's your sexlife?"

[Crunchy Dragon]

Sigh. Looks I'm subscribing and promptly unsubscribing from Netflix this summer.

 

 

Not sure I've ever seen a movie that was streaming-only that I've wanted to own on physical media as badly as the first Extraction film.

[Radium_Angel]

So there's yet another Alien (EDIT: Can't Speel) film coming to the large screen (presumed) called Alien: Romulus

 

The current actors who have signed on, the majority were born post 2000, and the oldest (again, currently listed) was born in 1997

I fear I'm going to really have to lower my expectations...